


Lunar Wars

by AnIdiotOfYourOwn



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, M/M, and repressed, but whats new, theyre both mecha pilots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:21:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28906302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnIdiotOfYourOwn/pseuds/AnIdiotOfYourOwn
Summary: Two mecha pilots from opposing military forces must cooperate to ensure they have any chance of escaping a hostile planet. And maybe along the way one of them will open up just a little.
Relationships: Jake English/Dirk Strider
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21
Collections: DirkJake Big Bang 2k21





	Lunar Wars

The blaring alarms of at least half your systems failing fades into the background as you concentrate on this bastard in your targeting reticle. Your name is DIRK STRIDER and Goddamn it you aren’t letting English get away from you again. 

“Attention Mech S-D1111, this is your final warning to surrender. Land now or I will use hostile force.” You send a transmission to the enemy pilot. 

“Sorry bro, no can do!” English’s obnoxious voice returns over the comms. At least those still work. “See, I’ve got these really fancy new troop orders that Janey would love to see.”

“English, your mech is going down anyway. This is your best shot at that landing being remotely controlled.” You grit your teeth. You’re currently fighting hard to stop yourself and the mech from crashing into the nearby planet of Lotak, but your mech is a stubborn bitch who’s already decided it’s fate of being a giant fucking metallic meteor.

“Sorry Strider, I’d love to, but I’d really hate to disappoint Jane.” You sigh. Dammit English. Now’s the time you’re supposed to properly incapacitate him. If your mech will even stay in one piece long enough. 

Metal grinds against metal as you push the thrusters as far as they’ll go. Your mech’s fucked, but so is English’s. He takes a few evasive maneuvers that you try to match. He's not a bad pilot, to his credit, but he never pulls into turns hard enough, never takes the riskier moves. You gracefully (well as gracefully as you can) flip through space as English sends off a volley of rockets from a wrist-mounted rocket launcher. 

He takes a dip towards the planet below. You jolt the rockets down and burst towards him. He cuts to the left, and you throw the piloting stick forwards. Yes! Fuck yes! You wrap your metal arms around in a grapple. He struggles and tries to activate an energy blade. You can feel the hum of energy in your teeth. You accidentally jerk the thrusters as you try to get a better hold on his mech. Aaaand everything goes dark. The power in the mech just went out. Wonderful. Lovely. You feel the mech creak. Oh no. Oh please no. Your eyes widen behind your visor as your ship slides into the planet’s atmosphere. . Most unfortunately for you is the fact you couldn’t beat the 5 ton giant robot with your own intellect to stop it from plummeting into Lotak’s atmosphere.

You’ve dealt with several unpleasant situations in your time in the Derse Imperial Navy, but rapid entry into a planet’s atmosphere is certainly up there for the worst. The only thing worse than plummeting towards the surface with all the alarms going off is plummeting towards the surface with only the sound of burning metal to keep you company. The good news is at least Jake is coming down with you. Or at least you hope he is. The external cameras for your mech went down with basically every other system. 

Never before have you been more grateful for the Emergency Internal Suspension System that Bro insisted be installed in the mech than when you make contact with the ground. Your head still slams into the front of the mech but at least you’re fairly certain you’re alive. You hear the sound of metal clanging and a loud thud of something hitting the ground, followed by what you’re fairly certain are footsteps stopping directly above your head. You look up as someone starts using a blowtorch to open a hole in the top of your mech.

“Are you quite alright, bro?” Well you’ll be damned, for some reason the beaming face of one Jake English of the Royal Prospitian Navy is looking down at you from a newly made hole.

“The fuck are you doing, English?” You’d try to make him move if you could actually feel your body.

“Well what does it look like, old chum? Saving your skin!” He exclaims, sliding from the hole into your mech. “Looks like you’ve gotten us into quite the pickle this time, eh?”

Are you having a stroke? “English, I don’t know what reality you’re living in, but we aren’t friends?” You say carefully. You nearly fall into the headpiece of the mech as Jake cuts you out of your exosuit.

“Well sure, but it’s just downright unmanly to leave a fellow pilot to die in a place like this.” He climbs back out of the mech and works to get you out too. 

You begrudgingly let him help you out of the mech and curse to yourself as you take stock of the situation. Your mech is suitably fucked. Everything other than the cockpit is practically falling apart at the seams, but it appears English’s is still generally intact, of course. 

You almost choke on your first breath. Right, you forgot the nearly unbreathable air on Lotak. Even with a backup oxygen supply and helmets that are supposed to filter air, the atmosphere is absolutely pungent. “What now, English?”

“Well, now we find an energy source strong enough to keep my old mech in the air and I take you back to Janey!” He claps you on the back and you wince. Yeah something definitely broke on impact. 

“And what if I don’t comply?”

“Well then I suppose you’ll just stay here and eventually pass out, I’d assume!” He says cheerfully, sliding from the top of your mech and landing on the ground with a soft thud. He extends a hand up to help you down. “Whaddo you say, bro? A little teamwork to get off this delightful death trap can’t be too bad, right?”

You sigh, and look between him, your mech, and the horizon. Massive factories pumping toxins into the air stretch out across a neon green landscape. If you don’t help English, there’s a very good chance you won’t get off this planet at all. You wince and take Jake’s hand as you carefully get down from your mech. 

“Only because there is an infinite variety of ways I’d rather die than krypton poisoning.” You add as you straighten up. Yeah, definitely broke a couple ribs. Ow. 

“That’s the spirit, Strider!” He shouts. “Now let’s get a move on, we have a lot of ground to cover and I’m afraid my poor mech doesn’t have the juice to make it that far.”

The two of you begin walking. You make it nearly an hour before Jake starts talking. “So, how has service with Derse been treating you?”

“We are not doing this right now, English.” 

“Well what else are we going to talk about, bro?” 

“How about we just bask in the unforgiving silence of this damned planet?” You grit your teeth and climb another dune. 

“Well that doesn’t sound like much fun at all!” English adds in the most obnoxiously hurt voice imaginable. 

“English, we are not here to have ‘fun.’ We’re here because you didn’t have the common sense to surrender in enemy territory.”

“Oh Strider, you can hardly blame me for risking a hike with an old pal instead of whatever choice words Janey would have if I got caught.”

You involuntarily shudder. You remember how disappointed Crocker could get and how emotionally devastating that was, before quickly clamping down on these feelings. No, Jake is the enemy, and enemies don’t get sentimental reflections. Especially this asshole. “General Crocker does seem the kind to get. . .passionate, about those kinds of things.”

“You know you keep talking about her like you don’t even know her!” 

You grit your teeth again. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, English.”

He opens his mouth to argue more before looking ahead. “Oh confound it, Strider, it looks like we might be in for more trouble than we originally planned for.”

“What are you-oh goddamn it.” Ahead of you is a huge factory. One of many on Lotak, to be fair, but this one looms larger, exerts itself upon you like a sweaty dude behind you in the cafeteria getting a little too fucking worked up over fucking chili. On the side of the factory is the traditional Dersian emblem. Ok, no big deal. “English, if you want any chance of getting off this stupidass planet, you’re gonna have to follow my lead.”

English beams. “Just like the old times then, right bro?”

“Whatever. Just, do you remember our old tactic from base camp?”

Jake grins. 

You throw the main doors to the factory open. “Hey, I managed to capture this Prospit pilot on the outskirts of the dunes!” You shout, fake dragging Jake, wincing the whole time. You get one glimpse of grey humanoids with candy corn horns looking at you with confusion before there’s a hard thud in the back of your head and everything goes black. 

You wake up in a room full of heavy machinery. The thrum of massive factory equipment nearly drowns out your own thoughts. Nearly. Jake is still trying to remain calm but you can tell he’s in pain. A tall, muscular troll in Dersian garb stands in front of you. “You shouldn’t have come here, Officer Strider.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” You try to stand up and face this asshole, but of fucking course you’re bound and stuck on the floor. 

“Did no one tell you the Derse Empire’s new stance on humans?”

You can’t tell if it’s the concussion or just the usual neurosis, but nothing seems to be clicking. “What?”

The troll snorts. “Figures. Well, let me be the first to enlighten you.” He pulls out a datapad and begins reading aloud. “‘From this point on, all humans are to be placed under the same working conditions as the lowest of the castes, and tests will begin immediately to bring their biology in line with ours.’”

Shit. Son of a bitch. “You're bluffing.”

He shoves the datapad in your face. Your vision goes in and out too much to read much, but your blood runs cold as you see the Empress’s insignia at the end. Your mind is racing. What can you do? Where would you even go if you escape? Your eyes pass over English and you sigh. You’ll definitely regret this later. “English,” you whisper, “does your suit still have-“

He gives you a half smile before you even finish. You brace yourself and grit your teeth. The troll doesn’t know what hits him. A flash of blinding light and concussive force that knocks you down later and the dude’s on his ass, unconscious. 

You groan. “Might have forgotten how much that hurts.”

Two strong hands lift you to your feet. When and how did Jake get free. “Well we’re free aren't we? And this place has all the fuel we'll need.” He gestures to a stack of fuel cells in the corner of the room. He undoes your bonds and grabs a fuel cell and the troll’s handgun. “Now then, as fun as this has been, I’d say it’s about time we make our leave.” The two of you force your way through armed guards and out the same way you came. Well, Jake forces his way out while practically carrying you. It isn’t until you’re back at the mech that you finally talk again. 

“So, what now, bro?” He asks, looking at you uncertainly. 

What now? You don’t know. You thought you left Prospit for good, but Derse isn’t safe now. “I guess now we pay Jane a visit.”


End file.
